Getting a life near to reality

Scientists are close to a breakthrough on artificial life, writes Sean Dodson.

October 13, 2008 — 12.00am

AS scientific ambitions go, it's a big one: no less than the creation of an artificial life form. Since the early 1980s, scientists have been trying to create synthetic cells. And apparently the final breakthrough is close.

"This is a critical time for artificial life," says Dr Seth Bullock, who chaired the ALife XI conference - a gathering of more than 400 scientists, philosophers and engineers at the University of Winchester, England, last month. "The field is on the verge of synthesising living cells."

Artificial life, often referred to as alife, is a very diverse field of study, encompassing simulations, computer models, robotics and biochemistry. Researchers concern themselves with the reconstruction or simulation of living processes in a variety of media - including robotics and chemical systems, as well as computational modelling. It's also a very esoteric community but it has proven, despite much controversy, to have many practical applications.

"There are many aspects to what makes up a living organism," says Alex Penn of the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, England. "The key aspects are production of a self-sustaining metabolism, a membrane to separate this metabolic system from its environment and an informational system, such as DNA, to support replication and heredity."

Dr Penn argues that although there has been no single breakthrough, different groups are approaching the problem of making a whole cell from different angles. "Although we are not yet at the stage of creating a totally self-producing, self-reproducing, autonomous living cell, considerable advances have been made on individual aspects."

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At the forefront of the artificial life movement is a research group led by Craig Venter, the American biologist who founded the Institute for Genomic Research and who is a leading cartographer of the human genome. Dr Venter has recently managed to insert artificially constructed chromosomes into existing living cells: not quite artificial life, but something approaching a synthesis of it. Rival research institutions are also close to fitting other pieces of the jigsaw in place. Mark Bedau at the European Centre for Living Technology in Venice has manufactured artificial vesicles - in effect, artificial cell walls - thought to be a key step in the origin of proto-cellular life.

Although the creation of a synthetic life form is mainly a practice of biologists, the results are of keen interest to any scientist interested in understanding living systems and their origins. "One route to understanding a system and its origins is to attempt to reconstruct it," says Dr Penn.

Since the movement's rise, it has often been perceived as an endeavour pursued by maverick scientists operating on the edge of mainstream science. "The alife community has always been a place where [scientific] outsiders could gather," says Dr Bedau, editor of the Artificial Life Journal. "It's been seen as something of an amateur science and yet the robot being used to explore Mars uses principles that have come out of the alife community."

Moreover, artificial life has produced many practical achievements much closer to home. Its ideas and principles have helped inspire a range of innovations, ranging from the development of household robotics through to computer games that use evolutionary artificial intelligence approaches, to the special effects in Hollywood blockbusters.

There are, however, large conceptual challenges to be overcome before synthetic cells are possible. First, the coupling of three essential components of a living cell: metabolism; membrane and inheritance system is not yet fully understood.

"Second, and more generally," says Dr Penn, "we need to better understand the respective roles of evolution and self-organisation and how they combine to produce living systems."